The first launch that took place on 29 April was conducted by Arianespace. This mission saw a Vega rocket successfully lift-off from Kourou, French Guiana, at 0150 GMT. The targeted orbit for the mission was Sun-synchronous orbit at 628 km (613 km for the rideshare...
At 0320 GMT on 27 April China launched a Long March 6 (CZ-6) rocket carry several small satellites into sun-synchronous LEO. The majority of the payloads on-board were Earth-observation in nature and came from different Chinese companies with varying degrees of...
On 21 April Virgin Orbit was selected to launch a series of six hyperspectral imaging satellites using its LauncherOne vehicle. The satellites are being developed by a team lead by Hypersat LLC – a geospatial analytics company – and QinetiQ US – the...
Amazon has made its first official contract award for its future LEO satellite internet constellation – known as Project Kuiper. The award, announced on 19 April, was granted to American launch provider United Launch Alliance. ULA has been contracted to provide nine...
Astrobotic has selected SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket to fly its first GRIFFIN lunar lander to the Moon. This is the first mission for its larger lander product – its smaller PEREGRINE lander is due to fly this year. The GRIFFIN mission is planned to launch...
Lockheed Martin’s primary interest in large rocket launches is via its half share (with Boeing) in the United Launch Alliance (ULA), but it is striking out with a different partner, the small launch vehicle provider ABL Space Systems. Lockheed Martin has contracted...
